The present invention relates to a seat, in particular a seat for a bicycle.
Bicycles have undergone significant design developments in recent years. For example, bicycles are now made out of high strength, lightweight materials. There also have been vast improvements in wheel design from which have evolved mountain bicycles and touring bicycles as well as racing bicycles. A substantial amount of design effort has been devoted to providing a rider with a more comfortable ride. U.S. Pat. No. 604,068 to Morgan for example illustrates a bicycle seat having movable sides adapted to move up and down to adjust the seat to the movements of the rider's legs.
A number of bicycle seats have been designed to be adjustable in width in order to provide more comfortable platforms for the rider to rest his buttocks upon. U.S. Pat. Nos. 629,956 to Craig, 872,124 to Hammaren, 1,623,818 to Tichota, 4,877,286 to Hobson et al. and 5,123,698 to Hodges illustrate some of these adjustable width bicycle seat designs. In another design intended to provide rider comfort, the bicycle seat is formed by three pads, one of which is rigidly secured to a saddletree and two of which are adjustably mounted to the saddletree. U.S. Pat. No. 694,875 to Meighan illustrates this type of bicycle seat.
In order to provide a more comfortable ride, shock absorbing structures have been incorporated into the support systems for bicycles seats. U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,025 to Denisar illustrates a bicycle seat having a shock absorbing device.
Still further, attempts; have been made to provide anatomically correct seat designs. U.S. Pat. No. 575,509 to Newell illustrates a seat: designed to support a rider in a manner which relieves all middle flesh or the perineum from pressure. The seat is composed of a rim or open frame shaped at its back portion to embrace the buttocks of the rider and further provided with inwardly-extended arms at a front portion, which arms are separated to avoid contact with the middle flesh or perineum of the rider. The inwardly extending arms are inclined upward so as to offer resistance to any tendency of the rider to slip forward outward of the seat by the impingement of the anterior aspect of the ischial tuberosities and the muscles and other soft parts covering them against the arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,082 to Hanson illustrates a bicycle seat which accommodates for the movement of a rider's ischial tuberosities. In a first embodiment of the Hanson device, portions of the seat coinciding with the rider's ischial tuberosities yield to the downward movement of the ischial tuberosities to reduce the magnitude of the localized pressure concentrations in these areas. In a second embodiment of the Hanson device, the seat has a portion which pivots transversely about the central, longitudinal axis of the seat during the pedalling motion to account not only for the downward movement of an ischial tuberosity but also for the associated upward movement of the other ischial tuberosity.
Notwithstanding these designs, there remains a need for a lightweight seat which provides for rider comfort and which is designed to reduce the potential for injury.